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Newsletter for Alumni, Parents, Parishioners and Friends of St. Anthony Catholic School in Washington, D.C.
Vol. 21 Number 1 Winter 2020
2019-2020 Theme: “You aspire to do great things. Begin with little ones.” St. Augustine of Hippo
www.stanthonyschooldc.org[1]
Dear Alumni/ae and Friends,
As Archbishop Gregory said at his installation Mass last May, this is a defining moment in the life of the Church. It is also a defining moment for Saint Anthony Catholic School, but we have been refining our approach for almost 100 years now. Since Lent is a time of new beginnings, let us with Father Abraham, our patriarch, whose new beginning came at age 75, and St. Francis of Assisi, who began every Lent anew, ponder on what basis we are to assess this defining moment.
Jesus’ Transfiguration gave us a glimpse of how things really are at their very root, and as our school grows closer to Jesus, we too are changed! We “Do not (let ourselves) be conformed to this age, but (are) transformed by the renewal of (our) minds.” (Romans 12:2) Again, “All of us, gazing with unveiled
faces on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is spirit.”
From the Pastor
A TIME OF NEW BEGINNINGS
Mr. Michael Thomasian, principal (left) poses with Mrs. Mary Lee O’Connell and Fr. Monk Malloy, C.S.C. G.S. ‘55, our 2019 Servant Leader Award honorees, and Fr. Fred Close, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua
Parish, at the Dec. 1 Donor Appreciation Reception at Margot Hall.
In the Paradiso, Beatrice tells Dante: “the mind has not understood, until the foot moves.” In other words, transformation happens as we take small but defining steps: Getting closer to baby Jesus through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, closer to the Holy Family by addressing the affordability of our education, closer to the community of the beloved by addressing the housing needs of teachers, closer to the communion of saints by a shared vision of fiscal sustainability. This will happen “not according to our works, but according to (God’s) own design. (2 Timothy 1:9)” Let us begin again!
Peace,
Father Fred
www.stanthonyschooldc.org[2]
do our undefeated 10U and 14U Boys, our 10U Girls, and our 14U Girls Division Champions deserve it, but so do our Pre-K3 through grade eight children who have physical education in that space every week. A new fl oor would be safer, cleaner, and suitable for our young children.
Your help in making this a reality means the world to us. I humbly ask that you make a gift of any size so we can begin this much-delayed project. If you would like to visit the gym or discuss this project further, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Together we did it once, and surely we can do it again! Thank you for your consideration.
May His light shine upon you now and throughout the Easter season.
Respectfully,
Michael Thomasian
Dear Alumni, Parishioners, and Friends:
I recently reviewed our parish’s 125 years of history and skimmed through many high school yearbooks to gain a more solid appreciation of our earlier challenges and successes. In addition to rigorous academics and a strong sense of Catholic culture, it is obvious sports have always played a signifi cant part of our history. In spite of having no gym of their own, the Tonies showed skill, spirit, and sportsmanship. Impressively, our 1952 team won 22 out of 25 games, earning them the title “iron men.”
In 1966, Coach John Thompson began coaching at St. Anthony. Over the next six years his teams would have a 122-28 win/ loss record. Needless to say, his arrival ushered in a period of basketball domination.
Before these golden days, even in the new high school, the parish didn’t have enough money for a wooden gym fl oor. For a few years, students played ball, held dances, roller skating parties, and ate lunch on a concrete fl oor. It took the determination and generosity of alumni, parishioners, and friends to raise funds for a proper fl oor.
About a dozen years ago a heating/ plumbing issue forced us to remove that beautiful wooden fl oor and since then our students are once again playing on concrete. It’s time to change that and to return the gym to its glory. Not only
From the Principal’s Desk
100th Day of School
14U Girls Division Champions Black History Month Assembly
Mass for Life
School Choice Rally at the Supreme Court
Always Growing
School Gym
www.stanthonyschooldc.org[3]
Growing up in Michigan Park near Providence Hospital, Dr. Sabiyha Prince H.S. ’77 had neighbors who worked at Catholic University of America as academics, including anthropologists.
Over time, she developed an interest in urban anthropology, specifi cally in gentrifi cation, which has led her to look at her hometown in a different way than many others.
While others might see the federal city as a haven of crime and drugs where a poor underclass is quickly being replaced by a higher earning class of professionals, Dr. Prince sees a city where an African-American middle class grew over time, as federal government jobs became more available to Blacks in the 1950s and 1960s.
She remembers attending Bunker Hill Elementary, where she sang in the glee club and learned to play musical instruments. Many DC Public Schools, before and after Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, had resources and a strong corps of teachers, whether or not there was segregation.
Dr. Prince was an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at American University from 1999 to 2011. “Nobody teaches you how to be a professor,” she said, and how to balance the needs of teaching and working with students with those associated with doing research. Dr. Prince still keeps in contact with former students.
Dr. Prince has produced oral histories of Barry Farms in Southeast Washington, where 440 residents have been displaced, and 16th Street Heights in Northwest. She learned that former residents of Barry Farms like to talk about their neighbors and sense of community, which many miss, and in her oral history interviews, the former residents never mention crime. Residents of Barry Farms helped press the landmark Bolling v. Sharpe (1954) Supreme Court case to desegregate DC public schools, and Barry Farms residents also formed the famed Junkyard Band.
One challenge that gentrifi cation
Documenting Changes in Her Native City
brings is that it tends to dismantle neighborhoods and important institutions, such as churches and businesses. If a new neighbor in LeDroit Park wants to walk his dog on The Yard at Howard University, he may have no idea how offensive such an act can be to students, staff, and alumni. If a relatively new arrival does
not appreciate the cars parking in her Bloomingdale neighborhood for Sunday church services, not to mention the joyful noise coming from the Gospel choir, she might call the police and make what should be a peaceful experience of attending church one that is not so pleasant for parishioners.
Dr. Prince has fond memories of St. Anthony High School. She described it as a “peaceful” place.
“High school is often a nightmare for adolescents but my years there were great,” she said. “I made friends I still have today - a handful of them I’m actually very close with. Basketball games and school trips are memorable occasions, but the thing I will remember the most is being able to be myself with my friends. I felt safe and appreciated with them and that was a key departure from my junior high years at a different school.”
Dr. Prince is also a painter and has exhibited her work at the Anacostia Arts Center in Southeast. After living in Columbia, Md., she moved back into the District of Columbia with her husband of 28 years, Steven Eversley, in 2011. They have two adult daughters.
ALUMNI PROFILE
Visit with Mayor Muriel Bowser
www.stanthonyschooldc.org[4]
St. Anthony Catholic SchoolSt. Anthony of Padua Catholic ChurchOffi ce of Development/Alumni Relations3400 12th Street, N.E.Washington, DC 20017-1793
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Non Profi t OrganizationU.S. Postage
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SAINT ANTHONY CATHOLIC SCHOOL BLUE & GOLD | VOLUME 21, Number 1 | WINTER 2020
www.stanthonyschooldc.org
Rev. Frederick Close, [email protected]
Mr. Michael Thomasian, [email protected] Murray, Blue & Gold editor
If you have any story ideas for the Blue & Gold or would like to update your address with us, please contact Bill Murray at the email address or phone number above. Thank you for staying in touch!
Mission StatementThe mission of St. Anthony
Catholic School is to prepare its students for lives of leadership
and service rooted in an encounter with Jesus Christ.
In MemoriamHans Bickel H.S. ‘62
Robert Firmani G.S. ‘54
Francis Greenwell
Ellen Grayner Kennedy H.S. ‘64
Sister Theresa Kessler, OSB
Kathleen Keane H.S. ‘58
May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy
of God, rest in peace.
Class of 2020
